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电台 (diàn tái) — radio station; broadcasting station; transceiver; transmitter-receiver

Definition

电台 covers two senses: a radio/TV broadcasting station (pair with 电视台 for TV), and a walkie-talkie-style transmitter-receiver (a device, like 收音机). 台 alone is just the 'station' morpheme, not a full word.

noun
radio stationbroadcasting stationtransceivertransmitter-receiver
Measure word · 个, 家

Examples

  • 电台。
    Wǒ měi tiān zǎo shàng dōu tīng zhè ge diàn tái de xīn wén jié mù.
    I listen to this radio station's news program every morning.
  • 电台。
    Zhè jiā diàn tái de tīng zhòng fēi cháng duō.
    This radio station has a very large audience.
  • 电台，。
    Tā mǎi le yì tái diàn tái, yòng lái hé duì yǒu lián xì.
    He bought a transceiver to communicate with his teammates.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

电diànelectric; broadcasting
台táistation

“电” indicates broadcasting or electrical transmission, and “台” is a station, so the word means a radio station.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 電; 电 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
雨雨yǔrain
Sound part声符shēngfú
申
申shēn電diàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For the traditional form 電, 雨 (rain) sits with 申, read shēn and meaning lightning.

Open 电 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 臺; 台 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 台 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (窗台, 电视台) it is 臺; in others (台灯, 台球) (台风) it is 檯 or 台 or 颱.

The traditional form 臺 is the 喬 + 室 form; earlier versions combined a sound part with 室, and an old reading saw it as a watch tower.

Open 台 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 5Media & News5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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